


A Small Beginning

by mobius_stripper



Series: All I Have [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Backstory, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-29 00:52:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobius_stripper/pseuds/mobius_stripper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From small beginnings come great things.<br/>- Proverb</p><p>A story of how Virginia Potts came to be Tony Stark's personal assistant and his other best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jumping a Tax Bracket

**Author's Note:**

> I like to make up things about strong female characters. Sometimes I put them on the internet.  
> Took the 'accounting error' meet cute and ran with it. Like a puppy through the daisies.
> 
> Still playing with this formatting thing.

When she finds out her ex-boyfriend is working for Stark Industries, Virginia is delighted. Not just because they parted amicably and he is a really good guy, but also because they parted amicably and he is a really good guy so he will totally provide references for her if she asks.  
Happy does better than provide a phone number for her résumé; he tells her Accounts Payable is seriously short-staffed because between the damages, lawsuits, running tabs at bars and strip clubs and requests for project materials, Tony Stark is single-handedly driving the Finance department into nervous breakdowns.

Virginia gets an interview fairly easily. Two seconds after she meets Sasha (three hours after she was shown into a room), Virginia is hired. She protests; no one has interviewed her yet and patience is hardly the only qualification-  
"Yesterday we cleaned out five people working for rival companies and-slash-or suing Junior for sexual harassment. And that's just Finance. We are in the middle of an audit because Howard Stark's son wanted something and, rather than create a PO, submit a request and wait for us to cut a check, he hacked the system, pretend to be Mr. Stane and authorized payment for a shipment of iridium, several cases of scotch and a Rolls-Royce. At this point we are taking people with patience and desperation, and teaching them the math. Welcome to Stark Industries, Miss Potts."  
Sasha shakes her hand and tells her to go to Jenny in HR for her new employee packet and Facilities to set up her new cubicle.

Virginia is young and it's the nineties, so she adapts much better than her peers when Tony Stark ninja-releases updates to the company spreadsheet software. She bites her lip when people grumble and half-seriously discuss raising the money and just paying the exorbitant licensing fees for fucking Excel. She can kind of see their point, as the 'Help menu' is a half-assed attempt at clarification that reads like someone dropped a five year old and a programming textbook into a blender and hit puree. Maybe if the author had been sober at the time, it would actually _help_.  But still, she doesn't think it's that bad.

Eventually people figure it out and she has to interrupt what she's doing to stand over shoulders and point at shit on someone else's screen at least once a day. IT tries to poach her three times before she hunts down the director and tells him that reports of her technological prowess have been greatly exaggerated and his non-salaried employees need to get it into their heads that she has _no_ interest in a job where most of the money is made in overtime. Also, for tax reasons, he should do something about how much overtime his department is using.

 -

Eight months after she is hired is the beginning of the new fiscal year and Virginia is given the Herculean task of sorting out the R&D budget.  It's a terrible mess of under-projecting, over-spending and far too many geeks with company cards.  R&D has no concept of spending versus accruing and apparently a large part of Science is trying a bunch of things, destroying some of them in the process and requesting more.  

Three days and five wrung-out techies later, she has to send a timid email to the guy whose family name surrounds her, asking if he could double check the numbers on this list of purchase orders because D20(Cabot Corp.) doesn't look right and none of the other people in the workflow know what the hell he was doing with 2 million dollars worth of aerogel.  She sends it at the end of the workday, knowing that the worst thing that can happen is he won't even read it and she might have to call him.  Nothing bad should happen because this isn't a despotic tyranny no matter what anyone says, and she mostly believes it.    
Still, she just emailed Tony freaking Stark and seventeen year old Virginia would have been giddy for a week.  

 

She's been hacking her way through the Marketing Department's numbers because Sasha asked if she could help Gerald and Virginia can't say the only thing that can help Gerald is a kick in the teeth so she says "sure".  A couple of hours in and it's very clear the face of the company is not the only one who likes to party on the company dime.  Then she realizes someone else is in her cube.

She spins in her chair a little too hard, but Tony Stark is too busy going through her personal property.  He's found some of the notes she made about his software, mostly running commentary on the clearly whacked out asshole who made it and is now standing less than a foot away.  
He glances over the edge of the notepad at her, smirks, and goes back to reading.

"Can I help you, Mr. Stark?"  
"You wouldn't be working here if you couldn't."  
Virginia grinds her teeth just a little.  "If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them."  It takes a lot of effort not to sound like she might hit him with a book instead.  
"You like working here?"

She was half expecting him to proposition her, and he looks like he knows it.  She considers the question seriously.  She does like working here because she knows she's earning every penny of her salary and she's not wasting that excellent education.  She doesn't like being the bottom of the totem pole in the Finance department; everyone knows this is her first job and she gets treated like a permanent intern instead of a full-time employee with responsibilities of her own.  She does like that she can actually do all her work and some of theirs, because it means she is not just good at her job, she's better at it than them and that makes her proud.    
She doesn't like the way Tony Stark appeared in her cube.  She does kind of like the way his eyes are traveling up her legs.  She doesn't like where this train of thought is headed.

"Yes," she answers simply.  She gives him a look that could be construed as challenging, but if she has to fill out a report and talk with a mediator later, it will be described as somewhat confused and inviting him to explain.  
Tony Stark just smiles and seventeen year old Virginia is back in the building.  Twenty three year old Virginia does note that he has a very nice smile but he's still holding her notebook.  She suddenly feels very self-conscious because this 10x10 space is all her, from the Mangold and Mondrian posters to the bright red bottle of nail polish still sitting next to her phone.  Now she regrets not hanging up her hard-earned diplomas here, even though she still doesn't want to share with Gerald and Nancy that she double-majored in math and art history.    
She doesn't believe Tony Stark would make the same 'funny' comments everyone attempts.

"Yes you like working at Stark, or yes you like working in this stupidsmall space going through spreadsheets trying to find stupidsmall mistakes?"  
Someone somewhere must have hit a panic button because there are heads popping up and peering over the upholstered walls.  She thinks about  _Home Improvement_ episodes and tries not to giggle.  
  
"I like working, Mr. Stark."  She glances pointedly at her computer screen.

"How'd you like to work for me?"  
"I think I already work for you."  
The very-nice-smile brightens.  "I misplaced my executive assistant.  If reports are to be believed, she threw herself off the building.  But HR told me she just transferred to the SI branch in Siberia.  I wasn't aware we had one of those, but maybe she really liked reindeer."  
"Siberia has a number of large mineral deposits useful in an industry like yours.  Gold and nickel come to mind."  Virginia gives her boss' boss a winning smile of her own.  "But I'm just an accountant, what do I know?"  
"You know your boyfriend.  He's been subtly suggesting you could do it.  I believe his exact words were 'huge control freak who thrives on getting shit done'."  
"If you're referring to Harold Hogan, he is not my boyfriend."  
"And if that's the only thing you want to correct me on, you've just agreed to be my office monkey.  Come on Potts, I'll give you the tour."

She goes home to apartment with a PDA prototype that beats the pants off her mother's Newton and a pair of fire-red keys.  Squinting at the labels reveals one is for the front foor of Tony Stark's house.  The other is for his liquor cabinet.


	2. That Which We Call a Rose

Mr. Stane thinks (probably correctly) that Tony only went to look at her as a favor to his favorite bodyguard and only hired her because of how she looked a pencil skirt.  Virginia doesn't care.  After a month of organizing Tony's calendar, politely deflecting/directing phonecalls and managing to get Tony Stark to fifty six percent of his appointments, Mr. Stane defrosts a little and tells her she's a pretty good assistant.  
She pounces.  
"I believe I can be even better with an MBA and maybe a few extra courses in global economics."  She lets the unspoken  _if SI pays for it_ hang in the air.  
Mr. Stane laughs.  "Do it.  Send it to me for approval.  And Virginia," he smiles benevolently, like Santa in a Saville Row suit, "call me Obie."  
After that he always manages to find a few minutes to talk to her about her classes, her work and Tony.

-

A week later Virginia finds herself waiting for Mr. Stark to start a press conference, with a bitchy reporter telling her to run and get him a bottle of water.  
She looks down at her simple black suit, supposes she could be mistaken for event staff but decides that her job only requires she play nice with some people.  She tells him that as Mr. Stark's personal assistant the only person who can tell her to  _run_ in four inch heels is Mr. Stark.  
The reporter calls her spicy and makes insinuations about how she got the job as Mr. Stark's  _personal_ assistant.  
Mr. Stark himself walks past (terrible bedhead and smelling of someone's  _Champs Elysees_ ) and cocks his head at them.  Happy is only two seconds behind and he cheerfully escorts bitchy reporter man off the premises.  When he comes back, the press conference is in full swing and there is a large empty space surround her.  Virginia returns his wink with a smile.

Tony starts calling her Pepper, because she  _is_ spicy, and she figures eventually it won't be funny any more and he will stop.  It's certainly not the worst nickname she's ever had.  Most of the names she is called lately are not nearly so playful.

The women she ejects from the Stark residence aren't very creative most of the time, but they are numerous and fairly malicious after a night with Tony Stark and a morning with her.  The women in HR told her this was one of the jobs of being Stark's PA that you don't mention in your Goals and Objectives and they share all the juicy 'horror' (with a capital W) stories they've heard from departing PAs.  Virginia told herself it wouldn't be that different from being an RA and she wouldn't have to memorize their names.

When Obie finds out several weeks later, he calls her to his office.  She doesn't know what to expect, but it's not Obadiah Stane handing her an inky tabloid.  The cover is a grainy picture of her and another redhead in the doorway, with a yellow bubble declaring 'SPICY THREESOME?'.  She grimaces.  The other woman is wearing one of Tony's dress shirts and not much else.

"When did you start..."  Obie gestures to the page.  
"A couple days after he hired me.  I'm sure it was a test.  He wouldn't answer his phone, so I went to his place and let myself in.  I figured he was in the workshop, but I'm not allowed in there and anyway there was a note saying that unless I wanted him to see Mr. Davis naked, I'd have to get rid of the girl in his room."  
"Davis from the London branch?  He's fairly tolerant of Tony's behavior.  Used to know his father.  I assume you did take care of it, since George didn't mention anything during our dinner meeting."  
"Indeed I did."  Pepper looks down at the picture and tilts her head.  "I think we'll have to upgrade our security.  Tony doesn't like the guards too close to the house, and this shot looks like someone was hiding behind one of the trees in the driveway."  
Obie gives her a real smile.  "Getting you out of a cube was the best trick Tony ever pulled."  
Pepper is giddy all afternoon, even if she is ignoring phonecalls from friends and family that have seen her at the checkout line.

-

She gets a call from New York before her alarm goes off.  Out of the frenzy of words coming through she picks up that a Lichtenstein,  _their_ Lichtenstein has been stolen, the police suspect it was The Cat and Mr. Stane has decreed that a new piece needs to be on the wall as soon as the tape is gone, but it has to be handled in-house because appearances and the media and mass firings oh my god.   Pepper manages to calm the squawking by promising to start a short list of pieces to fill the empty space until (if)  _Varoom!_ is recovered and learns the man who vetted Pepper when Tony spirited her away from Finance told the unfortunate admin that Virginia Potts had a degree in Art History.   
She thinks about it while she makes her coffee.  Howard Stark was from New York, the bulding there is the flagship of Stark Industries.  Lichtenstein is also from New York and the piece, a stark(ha) depiction of an explosion, was a brilliantly witty comment.  There's no point trying to say the same thing with the new piece because that will just highlight the loss.  She sends her suggestions back to Stark Industries NY with notes on why she thinks they would work.

-

When Tony tells her to come into the workshop for the first time, she wonders if this is significant.  When a robot rolls up with a sticker announcing 'Hi! I'm Dummy' and shakes her hand carefully she nearly falls down.  It beeps and she would swear he sounds inquisitive.  
It wheels away, projecting a sense of purpose and she figures she's supposed to follow.  She walks past a desk that is slowly spinning a three dimensional image of an engine and a glass board glowing with equations.  She finds Tony halfway inside a missile casing.

"This is incredible," she blurts out before she can stop herself.  "That imaging technology alone is worth a fortune.  And Dummy is..."  
She stops and Tony pulls himself out of the shell.  "Dummy is what?" he asks.  
"Dummy is trying to give me a bottle of scotch."  She stares at the offering before remembering her manners.  "Thank you, but it's a little early for a drink.  Did you tell it to do that?" she hisses at Tony.  
"We don't get a lot of company down here."  He shrugs carelessly.  "I guess he just applied standard protocol to you."  
"You guess?  As in, he did it by himself without your knowledge or approval."  Pepper reels for a few more seconds.  "You put an AI in a grabber arm!"  
"I'd have put it in a little plastic dog, but Sony beat me to it.  What were you saying about the imaging tech?"  
"I think it's a hell of a lot more impressive than another missile."  She stops, realizing she might just have fucked up.  
Tony smiles and the black streak on his face doesn't ruin it.  "I think so too, but only because I'm still working on a more impressive missile."  
"Then why-"  
"Stark is a weapons manufacturer.  All the things that make the weapons shiny have other applications and we totally encourage that but..."  The smile fades.  "Dummy is not a weapon."  
Pepper looks at the robot trying to put the offending bottle back on the shelf and making a huge mess.  Apparently no one has ever refused a drink and the poor thing is not equipped to gently slide the bottle back in place.  
"Of course he's not," she agrees.  The smile doesn't come back so she tries for funny.  "Unless your enemies have serious OCD."  
She gets a short 'heh' but the smile is gone for the day.  "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, you asked me to come down here and I've gotten completely distracted.  How can I help you?"  
"Pick a painting."  He picks up a small version of the transparent board and with a few pokes the big board is displaying a Barnett Newman and some landscape in oil that she doesn't care about because it's next to  _her_ Barnett Newman.

"Is the painting I pick going to go to New York and replace the Lichtenstein?"  
"Maybe.  You figure catburglars are sexy right, and I'm all for having one break into my building again."  
She picks the Barnett Newman of course, and promises herself she will go to New York one of these days to give it the proper appreciation.


	3. Shoes and Ships and Ceiling Hacks

After she comes down from her high, Pepper admits to herself the benefits of being Tony Stark's office monkey far outweigh the frustrations.  Sure he flirts, but despite the Sexual Harassment training video telling her to report it, she doesn't feel pressured or threatened or even uncomfortable.  It's not like he needs to coerce her to hop into bed with him, he's got half a planet to work through and Pepper is finding she really likes her job.  Too much to even consider sleeping with the boss and suing for a quick check.

And yes, he's like a spoiled nine year old sometimes, especially before meetings, but somehow it's more endearing than it has any right to be.  Maybe it's that diet of 'poor little rich boy Tony Stark' she grew up with.  He was in  _all_ the magazines for years; the girly ones for the red carpet appearances with his family or budding young actresses; the science ones lying around at the dentist waxed poetic about the stuff he was doing with robots and of course the business magazines that couldn't get enough of 'the prodigal son'.  She had a huge scrap book full of Tony Stark, three times bigger than the ones for River Phoenix and Judd Nelson.  She fishes it out of her closet and starts flipping through.  Her hand slips and she gives herself a papercut.    
She has a picture of Dummy posing with Tony, heart-shaped stickers holding it to the page.  Dummy looks a lot more advanced now but he is definitely recognizable.  Tony is not, and not just because the black ink has smudged the opposite page.  

Tony has kept Dummy for so long it's kind of amazing, but when she really thinks about it, it doesn't actually surprise her.  That, more than anything, decides her.  She stops funneling 50% of her pre-tax salary into her 401k and blows her very next paycheck on the deposit for a much nicer apartment and a pair of deep green Jimmy Choos.

Tony comments on them before he even looks down to see.  She's neither surprised nor angry that Tony has been monitoring her financial activity (even though she has been labelled 'a huge control freak').  He's a rich genius and everyone has a price.  Happy told her that SI called up every single one of his managers, training buddies and doctors to make sure he wasn't involved in anything sketchy before trusting him with Tony.  At this point, Pepper doesn't think anyone can afford her price.

-

Two weeks (three new non-waitressy suits) later, Tony introduces her to Rhodey.  As his friend.

She feels friendly enough to spend the whole evening with them sipping a sidecar and listening.  James Rhodes doesn't talk about what he does in the Air Force and Tony doesn't talk about what he does in his workshop, but they have a level of trust she hasn't seen Tony share with anyone but Obie.  
Tony wanders away at some point, probably downstairs and James gives her a piercing stare that belies the number of bottles he's emptied.

"You sleeping with him?"  James must not ask this question a lot, because despite his efforts to sound impartial and nonjudgmental, it leaks through.  
"No."  Pepper gives nonjudgmental her best shot too.  She thinks it works better than his did.  
"You want to?"  
"He's number 7 on my celebrity to-do list," Pepper tells him truthfully.  Probably the sidecar talking.  "But I'm going in order and number 1 will always be River Phoenix.  Any other questions about my intentions, James?"  
"Told you she was spicy."  Pepper narrows her eyes at him but he's holding a stack of pizza boxes that smell cheap and greasy and absolutely heavenly.  
"I didn't hear the doorbell."  The military training is paying off in spades because Private Rhodes gets denser, combat ready and more than a little dangerous.  Like ninja turtles might attack them for the pizza.  
"Pepper told me I need to upgrade my security system.  Still a work in progress, but I did the gate and the garage and he will be fucking  _awesome_  once I get the rest of the place wired."  
"He?"  Rhodey takes all the boxes and holds them out of reach.  "Are you building a Terminator down there?"  
"Maybe.  Given the location of my house on this cliff, a moat seemed a little impractical."  Tony reaches futiles at his food.  "I paid for those and you have taken them against my will and that is stealing.  Potts, I demand you contact his superiors and have him stripped of his rank."  
"I have no rank to speak of, and if I prevent you from building a robot army, I'm pretty sure I get all the medals."  
"I will sic Dummy on you.  He's bigger and has access to all sorts of blunt objects."  
Pepper giggles.  "First he'd have to figure out the stairs.  I notice the elevator has caution tape all over it."  
"I have been on the fence about the elevator," Tony admits, feinting grabs at Rhodey.  "On the one hand, it's a great access point for catburglars in tight leather.  On the other hand, it's a great access point for cat burglars in general.  Also, elevator sex is not as hot as I thought it would be."  
Pepper ends playtime by climbing onto the couch and neatly lifting the boxes out of Rhodey's hand.  She opens the top one and offers it to Tony.  It's not technically handing things to him and he only hesitates a second before taking a slice.

-

Tony introduces her to JARVIS a week after she turns twenty four.  Specifically what happens is he bans everyone from coming to the house for two months because he's 'doing science and awesome'.  He sends invoices to her because he can't remember where he put his checks or his bank account information; she reads the first one, chokes and calls him.  
"What the hell are you doing to your house?" she demands when he picks up.  If she were in a better mood she'd have noticed that he picked up on the first call.  
"Upgrading the security.  Like you told me to."  
"Oh my god, you built a moat and filled it with sharks."  She glances down at the numbers.  "Endangered sharks."  
"You'll see in three weeks.  When it's done."  There's a saw blade buzzing close by but he hangs up before she can say anything else.

When she is finally allowed back inside the mansion, the door is open and the place is magazine perfect.  Whoever his contractors are, they are worth the massive amount of money Tony spent on them.  Then a tinny voice in the ceiling greets her and she has a small heart attack.  
Tony jogs up, looking as smug as she has ever seen him and tells her to talk to JARVIS some more.  
"What exactly is JARVIS?" she asks cautiously.  
"Robot butler.  And guard dog.  I've given him autonomous control of the thermostat and security measures among other things.  He learns!  I can talk to him and he will change behaviors instead of needing reprogramming every time."  
Pepper gapes.  "Not a Terminator.  Skynet.  You installed SKYNET in your house!"  She remembers that Sky-JARVIS is listening.  "No offense," she adds weakly.  
"None taken, Ms. Potts.  The original parameters of the Skynet system are not an inaccurate description of my responsibilities.  My main function is to assist Master Stark in any way possible."  
"Good luck with that," she says before she can stop herself.  
"Thank you."  There is a pause that feels thoughtful.  "I do not believe I processed all the nuances of your statement.  Would you mind explaining it to me?  Master Stark has informed me that you will one of the primary users.  It is important for us both to communicate well with each other."

Pepper is still leaning on the doorjamb, trying to recover her wits.  Tony, with a gentleness she didn't think he had for humans, leads her to a spotless ecru couch and sits her down with a cheery 'have fun kids!'.  
She watches him patter off downstairs helplessly.  "JARVIS?"  
"Yes, Ms. Potts."  
"What did Tony say about me?"  
"He said you are to have access to the house at any hour, the workshop if he is in it and the bedroom any time you like."  
He goes on to list what he has gathered from Tony's emails and rambling anecdotes and the few spots mentioning her online, but she is now stuck on the fact that JARVIS will need to learn to some human behaviors that his creator clearly doesn't have.  Like tact.


	4. Runaround

Tony has a new project, and he's at the phase where this more interesting than parties and women, but it does mean he refuses to leave his workshop except for necessities like eating and coffee.    
Pepper ends up spending her days at the mansion on the off chance he will come up for air.  It's like vacation, watching movies and TV with JARVIS and explaining the more subtle flavors of human behavior.  She still wants to know  _why_ Tony let the AI watch the Terminator movies, but it is an indelicate inquiry and Pepper won't make it, even though JARVIS doesn't really have feelings to hurt.

"Distress?"  JARVIS asks.  
Pepper starts and for a second has to wonder if Tony installed mind-reading as well as better voice inflection this morning.  Then she realizes they are still watching Days of Our Lives.  
"Mostly distress," she answers, studying the blonde in the hat, "part of it is truly horrendous acting."  
"Pepper!"  Tony actually sounds hurt so she jumps to her feet, prepared to call an ambulance or S.W.A.T. team.  "Did you know IEEE was doing something today?  I didn't know IEEE was doing something today until two seconds ago.  I have to go.  Fire up the jet."  
"Are you drunk?" It slips out before she can stop herself.  
He actually seems to slow down.  "No.  Not yet.  Maybe.  Only a little.  But I will use smaller words for you.  There is a symposium.  On advanced robotics.  In Monterey.  Right now.  I'm going."  
Pepper has no idea how long it takes to get to Monterey but she fishes her phone out of her purse to arrange for transportation.  Tony stares.    
"That thing looks like it weighs as much as you do."  
Pepper pulls the antenna out with a fluid motion.  "This is the newest model.  It is the smallest one available.  It has copper micro-chips.  I was told this is the pinnacle of technological prowess."  
Tony waves his hand.  "Yeah yeah, everyone was  _so_ impressed with IBM.  They had help, it doesn't count."   
Pepper ignores the chatter.  Jordan can fly from Malibu to Monterey in less than an hour.  Marie in Monterey is more than happy to send a car for Mr. Stark.  Tony is still ranting about semiconductors.  JARVIS is asking questions and Tony is more than happy to answer and expound.  Watching Tony interact with someone who has no motives whatsoever except to learn is actually quite sweet. 

"The shareholders' meeting is next week.  As CEO, you really should be there, but Mr. Stane said I don't have to force you to if you're working on 'something useful'."  Pepper tries not to sound like she's bribing him.  
"Slave driver.  Fine.  I've got a dumbed down version of JARVIS waiting to be put in a missile.  It'll only be smart within certain parameters.  _Useful_ parameters."  
"Most people would do it the other way.  Start with the simple thing and make it more complex."  Pepper makes a note anyway.  
"Most people don't know an electron from an asshole."

Obidiah calls at 2:01pm like he has every day for the last week.  Pepper does her best to explain Tony's scribbles but something in her balks at telling him that JARVIS likes daytime television and beating her at Pong.  Tony's voice echoes in her head.   
 _Dummy is not a weapon._    
Obie wouldn't let sentiment prevent him turning a profit.  Tony pretends that he's the same, because he's the CEO, because he's Howard Stark's son, because he can't be anything else.  Pepper likes that he's not that person all the time.

She gets through the rest of her ten minutes by asking about the new facility in Greenpoint. 

-

Tony finishes up in Monterey and buys a Maserati so he can drive back.  He takes a short detour through Las Vegas where he gives the car to an Elvis impersonator and has to call Pepper to get him a flight home.  She greets him at the airport with a bottle of aspirin and a manila folder. 

"I need you to read and sign this," she says, skipping pleasantries like 'what the hell is wrong with you?' and 'if you get arrested, SIA stock is going to nosedive'.  
"Haven't you learned to forge my signature by now?" he asks blearily.  
"Tony.  I need you to _read_ this."  
"Later."  Which is usually code for 'would you believe me if I said a robot ate it?' but this time she trusts him.  He drops his shades over his face and makes Happy help him into the car.

-

She arrives later than usual this morning because she doesn't think Tony will be out of bed for hours.  JARVIS tells her that Tony is in the workshop and is waiting for her.  She can hear Black Sabbath blasting but as she reaches the top of the staircase it cuts out.  She assumes she is being announced, like Cinderella at the ball.

“Thank you JARVIS.”  
“You’re welcome, Miss.  I’m being told that even if it was polite, I’m never to touch Master Stark’s music without his permission again.”  
“Will you allow me to convince you to think of it as ensuring the preservation of his eardrums?  That would be in his best interest, and as your prime directive is to help him, he really can’t complain.” 

She opens the door and walks into the workshop to find Tony arguing with his creation about his hearing.  She is pretty sure she can hear a note of smug satisfaction in the crisp British voice and that more than anything convinces her she has done the right thing.

"I see you've decided to join the rest of the working world, Miss Potts."  
Pepper smiles serenely at him and waits.  He gives in after six seconds.  
"What is this?"  He picks up her mostly intact manila folder.  
"It's a non-disclosure agreement," she says, ignoring his look of annoyance. “One way, between us.  Anything I don’t have your express permission to share, I won’t.  Dummy, JARVIS, that thing over there...”  
“That’s a fuse box.”  
“And if you don’t want anyone to know about it, I won’t tell.”  She holds out a pen.  “Anyone.  Not Mr. Stane, not Rhodey, not the men in black if it comes to it.”  
“You think I keep secrets from Obie?”  Pepper has never heard his voice so toneless.  
“I think you might downplay some of your accomplishments.  I read _I, Robot_ yesterday.  It was… well, I don’t think you’re the kind of person who would put a thinking mind in a missile that is going to explode after ten minutes.”  
“No, it just kills people.”

She pauses, aware that this is a crossroads moment. “Do you want me to quote JFK or Hitler?”  
“Is there a difference?”  
Pepper gives him a long, level look.  “I’m told one of them had a moustache.”

He takes the pen out of her hand signs on the line.  She has JARVIS immortalize a copy.


	5. The Life Chaotic with Tony Stark

Pepper thinks Y2K is the stupidest crisis ever, especially since anyone with a halfway decent team of tech support has resolved the issue by releasing a new update and making sure it is fixed in all future products.  Some bimbo dressed as Marilyn Monroe still uses it to try and impress Tony at a Halloween party.  Tony chokes on his bright orange drink and falls off the sleek barstool laughing.  There’s a picture of that in _The Globe_.  He still brings her home and leaves Pepper to escort her out and get rid of all the glitter.

Happy is convinced it is a real threat and refuses to help Pepper peel Tony out of the lab in case the robots revolt.  Obie is also worried, but at least his concerns are grounded in the very likely scenario that some of their specialized software is going to lose data integrity.  

Y2K doesn’t stop Pepper from cashing out a month of PTO and spending Christmas and New Year and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with her family.

She doesn’t answer her cell phone, but she does listen to the messages after everyone goes to bed.  Just in case.  

Sometimes there’s more than loud music and off-key singing; Tony wishes her a Merry Christmas on the 23rd, 25th and 26th because he literally can’t remember which day it is.  On the 31st, Happy calls from Switzerland (or maybe Sweden) to say that Y2K didn’t do anything but he still doesn’t trust the robots.  A couple hours later Obie tells her he’s glad she didn’t pick up the phone, as long as she’s having a good time and he expects more of the quality work she has been doing for the new year.

-

Pepper comes back to work a week early because as much as she loves her family, she can’t stand them any more.  Tony refuses to let her do anything productive so she pulls out her secret weapon.

“Your present.”  She places the bottle with its bright red bow on the table.  “My mother’s eggnog.  Secret recipe.  The only thing I can tell you is that she mixes it up with two bottles of Southern Comfort in July and then it stays in a locked fridge for the rest of the year.”  
“No one drinks eggnog January, Potts.  It is strictly a Christmas thing.”    
Pepper pulls a pair of mugs from the kitchen cabinet.  “I risked my life making sure no one touched that bottle until I left.  If you’re not going to drink it, I will.”  
Tony eyes his mug suspiciously.  Pepper contemplates the spice rack.  There’s absolutely no doubt Tony has never used it and probably doesn’t know it exists, but his cleaning staff is very thorough.  There’s not a hint of dust on any of the containers.  She finds the nutmeg and sprinkles a little on both drinks.  Tony’s face undergoes some weird contortion which he tries to hide by downing the entire cup.  He quickly retreats to his workshop after complimenting her mother.    
Reviewing the last five minutes in her head, she decides it’s probably nostalgia and the fact that he’s spent so many Christmases drunk, alone and pretending not to care.  So she finishes her eggnog slowly, takes her time digging JARVIS’s present out of her suitcase and then walks downstairs.  

Tony is underneath one of his cars, the only thing she can see is a pair of sneakers next to the front tire.  It’s unusual that there isn’t any music but at least she doesn’t have to yell to be heard.  
“This is for you, JARVIS.  A late Christmas present.”  
“Thank you very much, Miss Potts.  I hope you enjoyed your holiday.”  
“It was almost too quiet and relaxing.  I saw this while I was out shopping and couldn’t resist.  I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t wrap it.”  
“Very thoughtful, Miss.  I shall enjoy it immensely.”

Tony’s curiosity finally gets the better of him and he slides back out.  She holds the box closer so he can read the cover.    
“ _Alpha Centauri_.”  Tony is actually at a loss for words.  “You’re giving JARVIS a colonization game?  You compared him to Skynet, scarring him for life I might add, and now you want him to trivialize genocide.”  
“I thought he’d appreciate the practice.  And Mario was getting boring.”  
“You’ll rot his brain… er, servers with that crap.”  Tony does his best impression of a stern father, despite being on the floor in a ratty Pink Floyd shirt.    
“Hasn’t happened yet.  And I think that’d be your fault, not mine.  Is he connected to a terminal?  I want to install it so he can play when he has free time.”  
“He doesn’t have any free time.  He’s running all my shit so I don’t have to.”  
“I do that and I still have free time.  What does he do when you’re passed out?” she argues.  
“I count electric sheep.”  
Pepper stares at the unassuming corner wall.  “You’re joking,” she says finally.  
“Yes, Miss.”  
“That was funny.  Laugh, Pepper.”  Tony pats her helpfully on the ankle.  
“How did you even…?”  
“That Carpenter guy, the one who put that smartass chatterbot online.  I took a peek at his code, made a few tweaks and voila.  Smartass robot butler.”  Tony slides under the car.  
Pepper waits to see if he will come back out, but all he does is yell at Dummy to hold the lamp steady.  Eventually she leaves the game on top of some important looking drawings and goes to clean up her inbox.

-

On September 11, 2001 Pepper turns on the news and runs out of her apartment.  The drive to Tony's beach house is mercifully quick and cop-free.  The first words out of her mouth when she gets inside are 'JARVIS, show Mr. Stark the news'.  She kicks someone's neon pink peeptoes out of the hallway and pauses to consider the strappy black stiletto on the staircase.  This could be the end of the world and the patent leather shoe is just too much.  She sits down next to it and laughs until she cries.    
Tony finds her in his kitchen watching CNN.    
"I called Obie," she informs him dully, not turning to look at him.  "He was at a meeting upstate, and not at the office.  He's already been approached by the DoD and several committees.  You have too.  I haven't said yes yet since the FAA shut down everything-"    
"I'll go."  Tony closes a hand on her shoulder.  "As soon as we're clear, I'll go."

Tony puts everything he has into the war on terror.  In six years he designs and builds smarter missiles, more sophisticated satellites, imaging tech that can scan huge containers for smuggled weapons, and some other things she can’t ask about including anti-counterfeiting measures in U.S. passports.    
Rhodey comes over when he can, and they don’t talk about anything to do with the war.  The one time they do, Pepper knows it is only because she is mostly asleep in her chair and the new James Bond movie is filling the room.  She can’t hear what they’re saying over the firefight on-screen, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out something happened to Rhodey or _could_ have happened to him.  

Tony spends nearly a year dedicated to the Jericho project. He explains what he’s doing sometimes, when he’s very tired or very engaged and can’t tell the difference between her and Butterfingers.    
The repulsor tech doesn’t require combustible fuel for sustained flight making it both smaller and faster.  The city of Jericho was completely leveled because God sided with the invaders and made it so when they blew their trumpets the city walls collapsed.  The smart targeting will allow the individual warheads to spread out and maximize the damage.  He wants to go to Afghanistan for a demonstration, to show everyone what it can do.  He doesn’t want to be talked out of this.  
Rhodey doesn’t want him to do it.  It’s dangerous and the only reason Tony wants a live demonstration is for style points.  And so he can _not_ invite General Ross.    
Obie thinks it's a great idea, something that will keep Stark Industries on everyone's mind and therefore their checkbooks.  
Pepper doesn't actually care one way or another, because he's her boss and her job is to make his life easier, not to make decisions for him.  She is somewhat concerned for his safety but it honestly never occurs to her that he might not come back.


End file.
